Jaws (film)
Overview Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel of the same name. The prototypical summerblockbuster, its release is regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history. In the story, a giant man-eating great white shark attacks beachgoers on Amity Island, a fictional New England summer resort town, prompting the local police chief to hunt it with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. The film stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as oceanographer Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Murray Hamilton as Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity Island, and Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife, Ellen. The screenplay is credited to both Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography. Shot mostly on location on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, the film had a troubled production, going over budget and past schedule. As the art department's mechanical sharks suffered many malfunctions, Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the animal's presence, employing an ominous, minimalistic theme created by composer John Williams to indicate the shark's impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Picturesgave the film what was then an exceptionally wide release for a major studiopicture, over 450 screens, accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on television spots and tie-in merchandise. Generally well received by critics, Jaws became the highest-grossing film of all time until Star Wars. It won several awards for its soundtrack and editing. Along with Star Wars, Jaws was pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which revolves around high box-office returns from action and adventure pictures with simple "high-concept" premises that are released during the summer in thousands of theaters and supported by heavy advertising. It was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley, and many imitative thrillers. In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot On Amity Island, Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) leaves a late-night beach party to go skinny dipping in the ocean. Something violently grabs and pulls her underwater. The next day, Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and Deputy Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) find her remains washed up on shore. The medical examiner (Robert Nevin) initially determines the cause of death was a shark attack. Brody orders the beaches closed, but Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) overrules him, fearing news of a shark attack will ruin the summer tourist season, the town's primary revenue source. He rationalizes that there have been no prior shark problems in the area, and theorizes the girl was killed in a boating accident. The coroner concurs and Brody reluctantly accepts their conclusion. A young boy (Jeffrey Voorhees) is killed in another attack shortly after, and his mother (Lee Fierro) offers a $3,000 bounty on the shark. Amid an amateur shark-hunting frenzy, local professional shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) offers his services for $10,000. By night, Brody is paging through library books about sharks. Meanwhile on the other side, two local fishermen named Denherder (Edward Chalmers Jr.) and Charlie (Robert Chambers) are planning on hunting the shark first and collecting the bounty. The unseen shark has struck the bait and begins to take it out. The dock gets ripped in half with Charlie in the forward section before he loses hold. Charlies makes his way to the dock. The next day, Matt Hooper, a consulting oceanographer arrives and is helped on dock by local fisherman Ben Gardner (Craig Kingsbury). Fisherman started searching for the shark. Meanwhile, Hooper examines the first victim's remains and declares it was a shark attack. When a large tiger shark is caught, Hooper disputes it being the same predator, confirming this after finding no human remains inside its stomach. While Hooper and Brody search the local waters at night, they discover local fisherman Ben Gardner's half-sunken boat. Hooper examines the vessel underwater and retrieves a sizable great white shark's tooth embedded in the hull. Startled by finding Gardner's partial remains, Hooper drops the tooth. Brody and Hooper inform Vaughn that a great white shark is responsible, but he discounts their claims and refuses to close the beaches, allowing only added safety precautions. On the Fourth of July weekend, the beaches are packed with tourists. Following a false alarm, the shark enters a nearby estuary and kills a boater (Ted Grossman). Brody coerces a devastated Vaughn to hire Quint. Quint, Brody, and Hooper set out on Quint's boat, the Orca, to hunt the shark. While Brody lays down a chum line, Quint waits for an opportunity to hook the shark. Without warning, it appears behind the boat. Quint, estimating its length at 25', harpoons it with a line attached to a flotation barrel, but the shark pulls the barrel underwater and disappears. By nightfall, the men retire to the boat's cabin where Quint and Hooper compare scars and share how they received them. Quint recounts how he survived the shark attacks that followed the sinking of the warship USS Indianapolis during the War in the Pacific in 1945. The great white returns, ramming the boat's hull and killing the power. The men work through the night repairing the engine. In the morning, Brody attempts to call the Coast Guard, but Quint smashes the radio, enraging Brody. After a long chase, Quint harpoons another barrel into the shark. The men tie the line to the stern, but the shark drags the boat backwards, swamping the deck and flooding the engine compartment with seawater. Fearing the boat's transom will be ripped out, Quint cuts the line. He then heads toward shore to draw his quarry into shallow waters and suffocate it, but overtaxes and stalls the damaged engine. With the boat immobilized, the trio attempt a riskier approach: Hooper dons scuba gear and enters the water in a shark-proof cage, intending to lethally inject the shark with strychnine using a hypodermic spear. The shark demolishes the cage, causing Hooper to drop the spear before escaping to the seabed. The shark attacks the boat directly, killing Quint. Brody, trapped on the sinking vessel, shoves a pressurized scuba tank into the shark's mouth, and, climbing the mast, shoots the tank with a rifle. The resulting explosion obliterates the shark. Hooper surfaces, and, clinging to boat wreckage, the two men paddle to Amity Island. Changes from the novel *The novel originally takes place in New York, while the movie takes place in Massachusetts. *In the movie, the first victim's name is Chrissie Watkins, but in the novel, her name is Christie Watkins. *In the novel, the shark kills both Alex Kintner and an elderly man. However, in the movie, the shark only kills Alex. Sequels Jaws was followed by Jaws 2, Jaws 3-D, Jaws: The Revenge, directed by Jeannot Szwarc, Joe Alves, and Joseph Sargent. Posters Jaws poster 2.png Jaws (film).png External Links * * * * Category:Films Category:Films and other media Category:Live-Action films Category:English-language films Category:1970s Category:Monster movies